Maus

Reading this comic was an experience, and not one I’m sure I would like to revisit in the future. I am aware of the different stories that come from survivors about their experiences as well as media portrayal of what happened. Having read Night by Elie Wiesel twice in my school and seen the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” 5 different times I can understand the feeling of horror when it comes to the holocaust. This story was more horrifying than either of them. It and barefoot gen both threw me to a new level of horror. Part of it was the content of the story, which would horrify any decent human being, but the majority of it was the style it was portrayed in. The fact that everyone is different types of animals adds an extra element to the story when you study the interactions between animals and why each one is assigned to each group, but a secondary result of this is that each is much simpler to draw and portray expressions. The simple style is more soft than what you would expect from a story about the holocaust. And it’s a very important part of the portrayal, as the story done in a style similar to, say, the DC or Mc comic style the entire tone would be shifted. Sure it would still be horrifying but in a far more graphic way, as they would likely show all or most of the gritty details of what happened. That style was meant to shock, while this one was meant to draw you in. Because of the simplicity of this style more of the horror is implied rather than shown, which is a very useful story tactic that probably aided the mass popularity and awareness it received. Because of the use of implication most people who read it, regardless of knowledge about the horrors of what happened, are able to grasp everything in it even if the exact details aren’t known. This way the story can be spread to everyone without people protesting about corruption of the innocent or it being too graphic for anyone.